scaffolding, prisms, ferris wheels, train whistles, rock biographies, snowflakes, herbs, cassette tapes, cool temperatures, 40's chanteuses/chanteurs, records spinning, stitches, outlandish mythologies, authenticity/sincerity, etymology, The TwinkleLightMovement, milk-clouds in coffee, Jeff Buckley's cafe days and Miss Holiday's gardenias, nomadic tendencies, immediacy/spontaneity/impulsion, the vibration of the subway pummeling through the underground, nostalgia, steam coming off peppermint/chamomile tea, windy days ending, the sound and feel of sand in the bottom of heavy duty scotch-tape dispensers, jim beam, snapping, and nights staying up late with my friends.
Sounds Like
"If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music." - Lady Day
Much to the exasperation of the conversation’s counterpart, Lex Land’s initial gut-reaction first spoken response to any comment is, more often than not, “Pardon?” The cause of this is still undiagnosed: is it her selective, short attention-span (this seems to be the explanation preferred by family members and old friends); is it the partial “deafness” caused by the teenage years of punk rock shows, or trip-hop blaring through the subs of her best high-school friend’s Navigator, or the ringing in her ears from her macabre, solitary quiet; or perhaps is she dreaming, caught up in some wild fantasy from which she can never break free; or perhaps is she merely trying to remember the thing which she was about to say, but now, in the moment, it has slipped her mind?
Likewise, one wonders, without exception of herself, what precisely Land is pondering. On the 22-year-old’s debut album from Intelligent Noise Records, Orange Days on Lemon Street, she throws a myriad of genres at the wall and, oddly enough, a lot of them stick. The record is a collection of songs (“a fantastic mix of honey-sweet folk and dense, beat-driven folk-rock” {Womenfolk.net}) written by Land between the ages of 17 and 20, all the way up to the day before she and producer, Shannon Edgar, went into the studio to cut the record in early 2007. In the week following its 2008 release, Orange Days could be found topping the iTunes folk chart at 1. Within the span of only a few years, Lex went from floundering as an OC college drop-out to up-and-coming as a Los Angeles songstress.
She was born and raised around and about Orange County not all that long ago, and was dragged and pushed around most of Southern California until she was able to rest comfortably between Huntington Beach and Newport Coast, where she spent her teen years with other surfers, acoustic-pop guitar players, and preps. One hobby that could not be extinguished was her obsession with music. The desire to be the best pushed her toward studying voice seriously in her pre-adolescence, and she continued to do so (even if a bit half-heartedly) through those painful high school years before it became her emphasis at university. The latter stint was not long.
The study, but even moreso, the undying passion, shows through. Throughout the many raving or not-as-raving reviews of the young lady’s debut, there is a common thread: Land’s voice stands out.
Lex’s feverous songwriting eventually took first place in her ambitions, and presided over singing Faure’s art songs or ever playing Bizet’s “Carmen.” In October of her third and final semester as a voice student at Chapman University, in Orange, CA, her true musical aspirations started to become reality. Within a year’s time, only a few months after leaving her apartment on Lemon Street, her debut record was finished.
Since then she’s been keeping busy. In 2008 she joined her pal, Joshua James, as an opener for his tour across the US. In mid-summer southern heat and humidity she stuck it out with the best of the boys – only boys – sleeping atop rest stop picnic tables and on church lawns every night after shows. Just since this past Thanksgiving, Orange Days’ “As Much As You Lead,” has been featured on television shows such as “Private Practice,” “Brothers & Sisters,” and “One Tree Hill.”
After a much-needed trip to Austin for a visit to friends and SXSW, Lex was invited to play live for KCRW’s Los Angeles listeners. The recording of which, Lex Land: Live from KCRW, was released as an iTunes exclusive this past month, and can be found on the Indie Spotlight: Singer-Songwriter section.
It seems as though Lex will be heading into the studio again this summer to record the next album. She is currently wondering how she will fit her daydreaming in between her upcoming rigorous recording schedule and her day job.
Though in her songs Land’s voice is often crying for regret, or forgiveness, or absolution, when she is singing, one can say, it begs no pardon.
My new single "Wonderwoman" is now available for a listen at my profile - enjoy! Releasedate Monday the 26. of October, but can already be pre-ordered at www.play.com
Hey there! We just finished new songs with the producer of Incubus, Jack's Mannequin, and Hoobastank. Let us know what you think about "Restless" and "Dark Day Afternoon" when you get a sec. :-) Thanks for being our friend.
I enjoy the line in your "about" section that says you went from an OC college drop out to an up-and-coming LA songstress. Are you still not a college drop out from orange county, who has simply found the self-confidence and courage to stay that way, and to follow your heart? And the whole up-and-coming LA songstress...I dunno, if I were you, I'd drop out anything at all having to do with Los Angeles from your profile. I have never been to a city so cold and uninviting, where the throngs of terribly unimportant people muddle about, side of face sewn to iPhone, who treat themselves (and everyone around them) as though they were the all-important lifeblood of this planet. I found that the old addage of "you go to new york to become an artist and you go to LA to sell out" was more accurate than I expected, or wanted to believe. You, my dear, are not a Los Angeles songstress...no no, what you create is worth much more than that.
the court accepts your alibi. Austin is a cool place, I must say. Of the places I've run through, Austin is the only place that isn't on one of the coasts where I could see myself living. Good music coming out of the bars' doors (good LIVE music that is), 70 degrees at 11pm in the dead of winter...great stuff.
Hm, yes, I see your point -I didn't know the context. you say you were in Baltimore last year...unfortunately I didn't know your music until hearing it recently on a local college midnight radio program, otherwise I surely would have come. But I don't feel too bad; I played in Austin two years ago and you didn't come and see me. :)
